How to get to St John - my opinion

[mrrick747]

I recently did the heavy research on the St Thomas to St John trip, i.e., taxi ferry taxi.. to Trunk Bay. We arrived at 8am in port with the taxi waiting til 830ish to head out, arriving at Red Hook at 850. The Ferry left Red Hook at 915 arriving at Cruz Bay around 930. The Taxi from Red Hook to Trunk Bay finally got us there around 10....That seemed like quite a hike and some of the roads downright scary! The general concensous here was that the Ferry from Charlotte Amalie was a long and rough ride, however, that is not always the case. We left Trunk Bay at 1:45, picked up the 2:15 Charlotte Amalie ferry and was in town by 3:00. The ride was scenic, smooth and quick. Much faster and much cheaper when you include the cab fare. Maybe we got lucky regarding smoother waters but I'll definately use that ferry both ways next time. Rick and Lynn

And by the way, Trunk Bay is beautiful....Cinamon next time

[trcori]

How far from where the ships dock, to catch the ferry to St. J?
We are trying to plot a busy day while there 7-5:30 with Millennium in December, hoping to get to St. J for the morning and get back to St. T for a return visit to Coral World on the way back, not sure if that's completely unrealistic! thanks -- TR

[mrrick747]

Posted on another thread...

On your trip to St john you are dictated by the time your ship arrives and ferry times. The taxis are truck caravans and they will wait as long as possible to fill up and still get you to your ferry. There are no options if you can get in a taxi and catch the 7:30 am or 8:00 am Red Hook ferry. (20-30 ride) In this case, its the taxi, ferry and taxi to your destination on St John. This will cost $8 p.p taxi, $3 p.p ferry and whatever the taxi and park fees there might be on St. John.
(Trunk Bay taxi $5.50 p.p...$9.00 for 2 and park fee $4.00 p.p)

It is much faster and cheaper if you arrive in port and can only get the 9.a.m ferry ( other times are 11:00 am, 1 p.m. for example) then you have 2 options. #1 Run the same routine above (Red Hook Ferry) or #2 catch the Charlotte Amalie ferry right in town, direct to Cruz Bay for $7.00 p.p. and then get your St John taxi. In the morning its a little more difficult because the Charlotte Amalie runs a little later than most Cruise Ship arrivals.
In the afternoon, I would absolutely use the Charlotte amalie ferry as you can set your own departure to coordinate with the ferry schedule with departures at 11:15, 1:15 and 2:15. (later times available too)
The only negative about the Charlotte Amalie ferry that I've read pertains to when weather conditions create rough waters, we did not experience this at all.

In your case, arriving at 7am, your only way to get to St John is the Red Hook ferry. The taxis will be waiting at the port to get you you there.
Rick